


Frosted Love

by Floris_Oren



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Cannibalism, Character Death, Halloween, M/M, Snow, Windigo, creature feature, may be somewhat creepy, nothing too violent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 08:19:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12428721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floris_Oren/pseuds/Floris_Oren
Summary: Yuugi gets lost in a snow storm. Someone rescued him from the cold. Unable to leave the small cabin, Yuugi and his “savior” do the best they can to pass the time. That is. Until Yuugi finds out the truth.





	Frosted Love

**Author's Note:**

> a story I started a while ago but never got around to finishing until just now. lol.

The Quiet echoes within his ears. Everything is so silent. Even the snow doesn’t make a sound; the wind swirls about, picking up snowflakes from drifters thereabouts. Blowing the snow further along. The wind is bitingly cold. So cold. Or so he knew. He knew because it’s always been cold. He has always been cold. Yet it has never bothered him. The snow is as comforting as a fire in a cozy cabin. 

 

He watches the ridge for a long time; he’s stood there since sun up. He had smelt something. Something good. But he’s lost the scent. So he stands and waits. Until, he gets another inkling. One that comes hours after sun down. 

 

Then, on this legs, he starts forwards, following the scent. 

 

~*~

 

Yuugi didn’t exactly know how he got lost. Only that he did. In the middle of the night when he had to go to the outhouse - of all things - to take a midnight piss. The batteries on his flashlight went out just as he tumbled off the snow drift leading to the outhouse that lay several meters from the large house. 

 

Now in the dark, with the wind picking up, only his his pj’s, boots and coat. Yuugi tried to find shelter. Or his way back to the main house. The wind blew up around him. A huge gust sent him back against a tree. Yuugi called out. Trying to wake someone. 

 

He held his hands out, and started walking forwards. Assuming he was still facing the house. 

~*~

 

The crackling of a fire woke him, also the banging of a spoon against a pot. Yuugi groaned, waking up. He remembered being horribly, horribly cold. So cold that he thought he’d never be warm again. He lay on a thin cushion, on some type of platform. Furs of many types piled upon him. His large purple eyes finally opened. 

 

The room around him is small; the fireplace is the largest thing about the place. The fire is large too, and over it, hanging from a hook stuck in the rock, is a large pot; from which, something bubbles away merrily, smelling a bit spicey. It made Yuugi’s mouth water. 

 

To the side of that is a long table full of cooking ware, dried vegetables and above fresh meat is drying. Along with herbs and small jars containing odd things Yuugi couldn’t recognize. Then there was a small, round table with stools covered in fur. Then came the bed he still laid upon, and next to that a large bookcase with many books and small nick nacks. 

 

“Awake?” a voice seemed to come from the dimness of the room.

 

“Yes, thank you.” Yuugi said, sitting up. Not finding a reason to be scared of whomever had pulled him out of the cold. “Do you live close to us?” he asked. 

 

“Define close?” the voice came again. Yuugi searched for its source. Soon enough something moved in the darkness on the other side of the room. And a somewhat tall man came forwards into the firelight. 

 

“My friends and i rented the Cabin,” Yuugi said. 

 

“Oh, yes.” the other nodded. “Well, no….you were actually far away.” 

 

“Oh.” 

 

“What do you call yourself?” 

 

“My name is Yuugi Mutou. May I have yours?” Yuugi replied. 

 

“Atem.” 

 

“Thank you again, Atem.” Yuugi said. 

 

“Ah, you won’t be able to go back to your family any time soon.” Atem said. He grabbed a stool and sat it by the bed. For that is what he laid on, and sat next to Yuugi. 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

“There was a nasty storm last night.” Atem explained. “We’ll be stuck here for a few days at least, but, once it’s moveable, we can get you back to your family.” 

 

“Okay. ummm….am I going to be a problem?” Yuugi asked. Looking at the drying meat. 

 

“No, no. I was able to do some hunting recently.” Atem’s dark garnet eyes’ shone brightly, as if he was excited over that fact. “So we’ll be alright.” he reassured. 

 

“Ah, okay.” Yuugi smiled. “Thank you, again.” 

 

“You are very welcome.” Atem replied. “Now. behind the half wall you’ll find a tub. Why don’t you clean up?” 

 

Yuugi cocked his head, when had a half wall happened? He looked around again, and indeed what he took to be part of the wall - just so happened to be the half wall. It had blended in with the wall, and with the darkness, Yuugi hadn’t been able to see it plainly. 

 

Atem moved away, allowing Yuugi out of the bed. Yuugi found that his feet were bare. And his pj’s weren’t exactly dry. But he didn’t have anything else to wear. 

 

“Here, you can use this blanket until your clothing is dry again.” Atem handed him a quilt. It smelt old, but clean. There were tears in it and it’d been mended in many places. Yuugi took it and went to the hidden bathing area. 

 

Yuugi saw why Atem would built it like this; it was cold, but with the half wall the heat from the fireplace made it bearable. There is a tub, a wash board and on a table is a large china bowl and a pitcher. From behind him came more light, he turned to find Atem lighting a candle. 

 

“Here, it must be too dark for you, I am rather used to it.” he smiled. 

 

“Do you make this?” Yuugi asked. Indicating the candle. 

 

“Yes, I own some hives and harvest honey and wax from it through summer. I have a big stash of candles so don’t feel badly if it burns too low. It shouldn’t. But still, blow it out when you are done, alright?” Atem asked. 

 

Yuugi nodded. Atem then left him to it. 

 

It was awkward washing from a basin. And with a stranger at his back. But Atem didn’t bother him. And every time Yuugi looked behind him, Atem had his back to Yuugi. He either maintained the pot of soup. Or was doing up the bed, amongst other smaller tasks. 

 

Yuugi washed quickly, the water felt very good. He started with his face, neck and ears, then his under arms, legs and middle. Ending with his privates. “What do I do with the water?” Yuugi called. 

 

“Put it in the pot by the door.” Atem called. Yuugi, covered in the quilt. Carefully brought the basin to the door, there he did find a pot. It was empty. He poured what little water he had used into it. Then he dried out the basin with the towel and put it back in its place. He put the washcloth he’d used to dry on the rim of the old, copper tub. 

 

“I’m sorry it’s not a proper bath, but it takes a while to warm the water. We’ll do that if we have to for the laundry if you’re still here.” Atem said when Yuugi joined him. 

 

“It was refreshing anyway, thank you.” Yuugi reassured his host. He’d never look a gift horse in the mouth. And being ungrateful for even the scrub down would be highly disrespectful. Yuugi liked to believe he’d never do that. Atem took him at his word. 

 

“Well, food is ready.” Atem motioned to the table. There he had two bowls of the hearty stew. Yuugi and he ate, talking about anything the two could manage. Atem had been in the mountains for so long he didn’t know any of the tv shows Yuugi told him about. But he liked stories. He told stories of egypt. The oft rolling waves of sands. Shifting dunes. The large pyramids of his ancestors. 

 

Yuugi knew some poetry. He quoted Ina Coolbrith to Atem. Who lent his chin on his hand. Eyes the color of the deepest wine watching his house guest avidly. Weather it be the words, or the countenance, Yuugi couldn’t decide. Eventually the two went to bed. Swaddled in furs that Atem had gathered himself. The two fell asleep the the cold, song of winter. 

 

~*~

 

The months passed slowly, each day Yuugi wanted to go back, but something always held him to Atem’s side. They gathered firewood together, did their laundry. Went hunting, and soon enough Christmas passed with a small dinner complete with homemade gifts being swapped. 

 

It’s early February when the snow melts. And it is passable to travel. Yuugi makes his way down the winding road. Spring had yet to make an appearance. The land looked deader still. Even with the brightening of the sun. 

 

He didn’t know that he’d been dead six months. 

 

He didn’t know that his family had left the cabin, even his friends. They had spent days upon days looking for him. Eventually they had to give up the search. They never found his body. 

 

Yuugi entered the shut up cabin. And stopped. Turning about but seeing no one. It was dusty, his things gone. Atem entered the cabin behind him. 

 

“I found you frozen in the woods.” Atem said. Once the dawning idea had taken Yuugi’s laughter. “You were already gone, yet your ghost lingered. You didn’t know that you’d died of exposure.” 

 

“What are you?” Yuugi asked. 

 

Atem sighed; “a cursed spirit, or so the natives say. I’m a Wendigo.” 

 

“A what?” 

 

“I am a cannibal. I eat meat of humans.” 

 

“How….?” 

 

“My family came up here much the way yours did, from a far off country, unknowing of the dangers. I didn’t die of exposure….” 

 

“Did you…?” Yuugi gulped down the wards. They were scolding hot on his tongue. He could hardly fathom the idea. It burned so much. He hated it. Atem is kind and loving and only ever treated him with respect. 

 

“Our plain went down in the mountains around where you woke up in my cabin. I was the only survivor….” 

 

“Did you…” 

 

“It’s called Survival cannibalism but I am cursed now….” Atem closed garnet eyes and in a flash his image changed. He is no longer the seventeen year old Yuugi had spent the winter with; but a large, boney creature. The head of an elk. The Equiline body of a horse that could stand on two goats legs. The furs he surrounded himself with became baggy, wrinkled skin. His horns are huge, and clatter against the ceiling of the cabin they stood in. 

 

“This is my truest form.” 

 

Yuugi spluttered as tears ran down from his eyes; “why didn’t you tell me I was dead when I woke up that first time?” Yuugi whimpered. 

 

Atem mushed a hoof into the wood floor; deep in thought. They passed many moment silently before he replied; “Your eyes.”

 

Yuugi sniffled. “My what?” 

 

“You have prettiest purple eyes, it is the color of sunset in summer when the sky is maroon and a hazy amethyst. It reminded me of home.” Atem said. 

 

Yuugi rubbed at said eyes. Then when he opened them he had become transparent. “ATEM!” 

 

“It is time, my friend, you must pass to the other side.” Atem said. 

 

Just then a light surrounded Yuugi. He heard his native language and laughed. His Ancestors were bidding him home. “Will you be alright?” Yuugi asked. 

“Of course, now go.” Atem shook his antlers at the boy. “I am eternal.” 

 

Yuugi lept forwards and hugged the creature; “Thank you, for being so kind to me.” 

 

“You are welcome.” Atem said. Then Yuugi turned and walked into the light. Atem waited until Yuugi’s spirit had vanished, along with the Light. Then he sighed. Alone once again he turned away from the cabin. 

 

It was time, once more, to hibernate, until the roaring winds of winter called him from his sleep. 

 

The End. 


End file.
